Fairy Hearts: The Lockser Family
by HeartlessAlchemyst
Summary: Key of Time spinoff. Sora and Juvia are happily married and the proud parents of 4(coming up on 5) children. Aerith has offered to babysit the kids while Sora takes Juvia to introduce her to his friends and family. Just one problem. Kairi doesn't seem to have been clued in on Sora's whereabouts or activities for the last 7 years. (May or may not be all in Juvia's imagination)


**~The Lockser Family~**

Radiant Garden has become quite a bustling place for city that until recently was in shambles. Aerith opened a tea shop called; Cafe Cetra and employs the always bubbly Yuffie as a barista. Leon has been keeping busy with various hobbies. Chief among them being rescuing stray dogs. Local grump, Cid has been making a killing in real estate. Speaking of which; he rented out a larger home to an old friend a while back who has been causing quite the commotion. Mostly due to his kids being the subject of a lot of noise complaints.

At Cafe Cetra, Yuffie struggles to keep up with all the orders. "Aerith! You're killing me with these Summer Special Deals!" Aerith walks out of the kitchen with no apron and a purse around her waist. Yuffie knew what that meant, but she didn't want to believe it. "You're leaving me here?!" Aerith regretfully nods. "Sorry. But I promised Sora I'd babysit today so he could take Juvia out for date night." The flower girl pats the ninja's back. "Besides, it looks like it's slowing down. Remember to lock up tonight." Yuffie sighs before she slaps both her cheeks to give herself a pick-me-up. "Alright! I can do this. Oh. Say hi to Juvia for me." Aerith nods as she waves her off and heads out the door.

Aerith makes her way to Sora's house and uses the key hidden under the doormat to get in. The moment she steps through the door; she is greeted with pure chaos. The oldest girl was making a mess in the kitchen; seemingly trying to make cake, but lacking all the ingredients to do so. The second oldest boy was making a pillow fort out every couch cushion and pillow in the house. He put a sign on the front that read: 'No Grils alowd'. And finally, the two youngest twin boys were wrestling their dad for attention as Sora tried to control the two of them, but soon noticed the visitor. "Aerith! Thank god, you're here. Please...help me." Aerith giggled as she pulled one of the twins off of Sora's head.

"You're not mama!" The four year old yelled at his handler. Sora tried to explain to the kids. "This is Aerith, Rucks." He yelled out to the kids to get the others attention. "Party! Huddle up!" The girl jumped over the counter to get to her dad as she glomped his leg as the boy in the pillow fort didn't budge. Sora groaned. "Cael? Huddle up." Snoring can be heard from the fort. "I know you're not sleeping! Zack. You're brother is down. Go support him." He releases the other twin to act as a bulldozer and tear down the fort. Zack then piles on top of the five year old Cael and yells out. "Heal!" Cael plays along and gets up as Zack takes him by the hand and leads his grumpy older brother to the party. "I did it, Daddy! Am I gooder than Dolan?" Sora kneels down to his level and tussles his scraggly brown hair. "Good job, my little healer. And yes you are."

After all the kids gather together, Sora introduces them to the stranger. "Guys, this is Aerith. She's gonna be your babysitter tonight. You listen to her and BE NICE." He quickly glances at Cael during that last part and raises his eyebrow. The girl raises her hand as Sora points to her. "Imber. You have a question?" The six year old blunette politely voices her concern. "Does that make her the party leader?" Sora nods. "That's right, Raindrop." Her face lights up. "Wow! She's pretty!" Aerith smiles warmly at the compliment. "Thank you. You're very sweet. And quite bluntly honest. Wonder where you get it from."

As the other kids go about their business; Sora takes advantage of the moment's reprieve to talk to Aerith. "Thank you so much for doing this, Aerith. It's just been hectic around here lately with the Cid raising rent on us and Juvia getting pregnant again." Aerith gives Sora a long awaited hug. "Don't worry about it. I'm just happy to see you again. I can't believe that we hardly see you even though you live like 3 blocks away from my Cafe. The only time I see you is when you clock off at the wall reconstruction." She could hear his back popping a bit from her embrace. She knows she didn't hug him that hard. "Are you okay? Have you been getting enough sleep?" Sora rubbed the back of his neck as he stretched it out. "Ah. You know how it is. Everyone wants a piece of me." Aerith nods, but holds some reservations towards her friend's health.

Their attention is drawn to the stairs as a 8 month pregnant Juvia slowly makes her way down them, careful to watch her step. Sora goes over to help her down the last few steps. "Thank you, darling. You can go start the Gummi Ship." Sora heads out to get the ship out of the garage as Aerith gives Juvia a gentle hug, careful not to squeeze her too tight around her tummy. "Juvia heard you talking about Sora's back problems. Is there something Juvia can do for him?" Aerith ponders for a bit. "You could try massaging his back when you go to bed. Or maybe you do some couples yoga." Juvia giggles a bit. "Yoga would probably be better. He might get the wrong idea if Juvia starts rubbing against him in bed."

"Alright, kids. You listen to Miss Aerith. Mommy and Daddy will be back by morning." Aerith was now curious of the destination. "Where are you guys going?" Juvia looked a little unsure. "Technically, it's supposed to be a surprise for Juvia. But Juvia figured out last night that's a tropical island. Some place called Destiny Islands." Aerith's eyes widened, realizing that Juvia really had no idea. She didn't want to spoil the surprise, so Aerith played along. "Is that so? Sounds lovely. You better get going. Have fun." Juvia smiled as she went out the door, but stopped to turn around, kneel down and hug all her kids before leaving.

~Destiny Islands~  
Kairi can't help but notice that Riku has been acting very strange recently and tried to figure out why. But she received no conclusive answer from Riku himself; only a simple: 'You'll see'. That only made her more curious and suspicious. But today was the day that her questions would be answered when she saw Sora's old gummi coming in for a landing. The sheer shock and excitement on her face was indescribable as she ran past the waiting Riku to the landing spot. As Sora stepped out, she tackled him in a hug. "Sora! I can't believe you're here!" Her joy was soon overshadowed by anger. "Why didn't you come back sooner?!"

Sora tries to explain himself. "D-didn't you get my letters? I sent them to you in bottles." Riku pipes up. "Yeah. I've been meaning to tell you...that doesn't always work. Seriously, who thinks messages in bottles is an effective way of communication?" Kairi blushes a bit. "...Ahem. Wait. How did YOU know, Riku?" Riku explains plainly. "Oh. I was the one who collected his letters, but I kept them to myself mostly." She gets steamed. "WHY?!" Juvia starts to come out of the ship as Kairi's jaw drops. Kairi got her answer, but Riku would put it to words anyways as he points at Juvia. "Cause I didn't know how to explain THAT without you going ballistic on me."

After a long and exhausting explanation to both of the girls, Kairi starts to calm down. "For the love of god, Sora….buy a phone or something." Sora rubs the back of his head sheepishly as he laughs. "Yeah...it's on my to-do list." Juvia extends her hand to Kairi. "So, you're Sora's childhood friends? It's nice to meet you." Kairi still can't process the woman standing before her as Riku pushes past her to shake Juvia's hand. "And you're Sora's wife. I'm Riku. I read all about you in Sora's letters. Well, the ones that actually got to me, that is."

As the group made their way along the beach towards the neighborhood, Sora made a haunting realization. "Oh god. Riku! You did share the letters with my parents, right?" Riku pats Sora's back, which causes him slight discomfort. "Hey. No worries. They know everything that I know." Sora released the nervous breath he was holding in. They all stopped at the front door to Sora's house as he knocked on the door. They could hear loud footsteps. It sounded like they were rushing to the door like there was a murderer in the house as the door violently swings open and his mother instantly hugs him tightly. "SORA! Welcome home, Sweetie!" Sora almost cries, but his mom was doing enough crying for the both of them.

They all step inside as Sora's dad comes in to give him a strong hug as well. Sora did his best not show how much his back was hurting from all the hugging. His mom greeted Juvia next. "You must be Juvia. I have to say; when Riku first showed me that picture of you from the letter...I was a little surprised. In a good way, of course." The dad chimed in. "More like, she about had a heart attack." Juvia blushes as she laughs. The father continued. "Speaking of that picture. Now son...I've been waiting 6 years to tell you this. GOOD JOB!"

Sora and his dad fist bump. "I was worried for a while that you might not find someone and that if you did; you'd settle. But the moment I opened that letter, you prove in my mind that you REALLY know how to pick them." Sora has a smug look on his face while his father has one of pride in his son. Both Juvia and Sora's mom shrug from those two's antics. "Aaron, stop it. You're embarrassing Juvia...and me. Now let's all get to dinner. I made Cheeseburgers and fruit salad." Everyone gathers around at the dinner table to socialize and eat.

Kairi was the first to ask a question. "So, Juvia. When's the baby due?" Juvia gets very serious. "Juvia is not pregnant." Kairi has moment of panic as she tries to think of a way to cover herself. "Oh god. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- I mean you're not fat. You just look a little..." Juvia bursts out laughing. "Kidding! Juvia is kidding! Juvia is eight months pregnant." Everyone at the table starts laughing as Kairi realizes she was punked and smiles. "Oh..."

Sora's mom asks a follow up. "So, would this be your fourth?" Juvia corrects her. "Fifth. And we're pretty sure it's going to be our second girl." Riku speaks with his mouth full. "Dang. Five already? How many kids are you planning on, Sora?" Sora lowers his head as he whispers. "Seven." Riku just blurts it out anyways. "Seven?!" Juvia looks over and narrows her eyes. Sora's mom picks up on what's going on. "How many kids are YOU planning on, Juvia?" Juvia proudly proclaims her answer. "Thirteen." Kairi spits out her drink as Riku chokes on his food. Sora's mom looks like she's about to faint. Juvia looks confused by everyone's reaction. "What?"

Sora's dad glances at Sora and gives him the thumbs up as he smirks and nods in approval. Sora lowers his head more as if to hide behind his dinner plate. Riku gets out of his chair and starts bowing to Sora. "You are a GOD! A GOD I TELL YOU!" Kairi slaps Riku in the back of the head. "Cut it out. She was just joking around again." Sora finally speaks up on the matter. "No. She's 100% serious about this."

~Radiant Garden~  
Meanwhile, in Sora and Juvia's house; Aerith struggles to keep Cael from setting the house on fire. The twins have disappeared while Imber keeps experimenting with her 'Cake'. Aerith follows Cael into the kitchen where Imber is baking, but loses him in the mess. "Cael? Uh...Come out, come out wherever you are." The boy sneaks up on top of the counter behind her and pulls out one of the kitchen knives as he leaps into the air and thrusts the blade downward. Aerith suddenly has a strangely familiar chill shoot down her spine.

Before Cael's attack made it anywhere close to Aerith, he was snatched out of the air by an unannounced visitor. "Good form. But you left yourself wide open, boy. Also, I don't think Aerith would appreciate a blade in her back." The boy pouts. "It's just a prank, Aunt Erza. I wasn't gonna actually hit her. Just scare her." Erza raised an eyebrow; unconvinced. "You have a rather DARK sense of humor, Cael. I don't know where you could've possibly gotten that from."

Aerith greets the red headed wizard. "Oh. That Lacrima does work. When Juvia gave me a set of 'Emergency Incantations' and a crystal ball, I wasn't sure how to use them." Erza holds Cael under her arm like a football as she uses her other hand to shake Aerith's. "I came over as soon as I got your message. I haven't gotten a call from Juvia since she called me in a panic and screamed 'I'M HAVING TWINS'. Speaking of which...where are those little squirts?" Aerith shrugged in exasperation. "That's kinda why I called you here. I lost them about an hour ago and I can't find them."

Erza smirks. "Hmm. A fetch quest, is it? Not a problem. Together we'll find them in no time." Cael was getting annoyed with being held like this for so long. He soon got the bright idea to play a prank on Erza to get her to let him go. He took advantage of his position to reach into Erza's shirt and make a twisting motion. "Purple Nurple!" Throughout the entire city; Erza's voice pierced through the populace's ears. "KYA!"

~Destiny Islands~  
Night falls on the tropical islands as Sora makes his way to his old room. Juvia follows closely behind as Sora tries to get a good enough lead to clean up any embarrassing messes he may have left behind since he was last in there. He opens the door to find it just how he left it. Clothes strewn about the floor, toys and wooden crafts along the shelves and walls and a rotting plate of food that seems to have been there for years. Sora made the connection to that right away. "Aw man. We were gonna have lasagna that night?"

Juvia consoles her grieving husband. "Juvia can make you some lasagna when we get home." Sora makes his way through the field of his adolescent atrocities and stops at his bed. "Hmm. We might have a problem here. My bed's not big enough for the two of us." Juvia observes it and giggles as she smirks at him. "It is if you want to...SNUGGLE." She emphasized the last word as she whispered into his ear. Sora's face flushed red. "W-What about the baby?!" Juvia starts pouting. "...Fine. Fine. Forget it."

After flustering and confusing Sora, Juvia crawled into Sora's old bed and turned her nose at him. "Good night, Sora." Her tone was rather passive aggressive, but Sora started to catch on. "Oh...Are you having...baby moods again?" She pulled the covers over her face in frustration. "GOOD NIGHT." Sora took the hint and backed out of the room. "...I'll sleep on the couch then. Good night. ...I love you." He waited for a response as she reluctantly pulled down the covers to look at him and whispered. "...I love you too." Pulling the covers back up over her eyes as the 'moment of weakness' ended.

As midnight approaches, Juvia's restlessness causes her to explore her husband's room. She finds adorable drawings and various books about pirates and sailing. Under his mattress she found what was probably his mother's old swimsuit magazine. It reminded her of the Wizard Weekly magazine that Mirajane always modeled for. As she flipped through the pages, she wondered if Sora's tastes had changed much, while looking at herself in the mirror. She banished the thought of Sora being so shallow as to judge her for being pregnant.

~Radiant Garden~  
As Aerith and Erza wander through town, searching for Rucks and Zack, Cael rubs the big bump on his forehead that he got from Erza while Imber holds his and Aerith's hand in a chain. Aerith finally has the idea to ask Leon for help and goes to his house. When they arrive, they knock on his door, but receive no answer. Ever the bold; Erza just barges in to find Leon's house is swarming with puppies as Aerith tries her best to keep the kids from splitting off to play with them all.

As they go deeper into the 'puppy pit' they eventually find Leon buried under a dogpile looking like he's having the time of his life. "Oh. ...Hi Aerith." Imber finds the twins in a similar pile of pups. "Ruck. Zack. There you are!" Cael shoves his sister aside and yells out. "I found them!" Imber lashes out at her brother. "Water Slap!" The appropriately named attack smacks him in the face. Erza bonks both of them on the head; for Cael it was right on the spot that was still tender. "Both of you. Quit it!" Cael starts crying.

Aerith quickly runs over to comfort Cael. "Shh. It's okay." She picks him up and cradles him. "We'll go get some ice cream. Would you like that?" He sniffles. "...Yes." He smirks deviously at Erza over Aerith's shoulder as if to rub it in.

~Destiny Islands~  
Sora and Juvia were packing up in the early morning to head home in between all the endless hugs from his mother in a vain attempt to keep him around. "Mom, come on. I have to get home to the kids and I have work tomorrow." Kairi helps Juvia with the luggage as they gossip to themselves. "13 kids, huh? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Juvia smiles confidently. "Absolutely. Juvia can handle it." Kairi brings up a counter. "Okay… But do you think SORA can handle it? That's a BIG commitment, you know? A lot of work. You might be fine, but Sora could end up...drained...in more ways than one." Juvia was overcome with shock as the thought had never occurred to her and it perhaps explained many of her unanswered questions regarding Sora reservations about their long-term plans.

Riku arrives still drowsy from recently waking up to give Sora a quick hug. "Seriously though...get a phone, man." As they laughed, Riku leaned into the hug and whispered discreetly into Sora's ear. "...And if Juvia has any sisters or hot friends, send me their number. She's gotta have some hot friends, right?" Sora paused for a moment and smirked. "...Just a few. But most of them have boyfriends or husbands already. So, you're outta luck. Which reminds me..." Sora breaks off from Riku and announces to his parents. "You guys might get my 'Evil Twin' and his wife for a visit soon. Just a feeling I have." The only person who knew what he was talking about was Juvia and she showed it through an exasperated sigh. "...Oh dear. How many kids have they had now?" Sora shook his head. "The number will only make you exhausted just to hear it."

~Radiant Garden~  
The kids and their babysitters sit on the front porch of Sora's house, eating ice cream as Erza glares at Cael and he responds by slicking his blue sea-salt tongue out at her. Imber is the first to finish her ice cream as she thanks Aerith and runs back inside; no doubt remembering the 'cake' she left unfinished. Erza ends the glaring contest with Cael as she stretches. "Welp. You seem to have things under control now. I gotta get back home before Jellal realizes I'm not there." Ruck and Zack hug both of Erza's legs at the same time and speak simultaneously. "Bye bye, Auntie Erza." She tussles their identical blondish brown hair. "Bye bye, boys. Give your mother an earful about how much you want to spend more time with me."

Erza takes the Fairy Tail ship she borrowed and takes off. But before she leaves sight, she gives Cael the look that says: "I'm watching you, punk." Cael scoffs as the rest of the group goes to back inside the house to meet up with Imber. As the day draws to a close, Aerith puts the twins down for bed. They both motion for her to come closer as they both steal a kiss on both sides of her cheeks at the same time. Aerith can hardly hold back the urge to squeeze them so tightly that she'll have to take them home with her. "You two are the sweetest."

After they fall asleep, she walks down the stairs to find Imber had finally finished the cake and put it in the oven. She moves over to the living room to find both Imber and Cael sleeping on top of each other on the couch while watching TV. With perfect reaction time; she quietly runs over to her purse to grab her camera and takes several photos of them on the couch. The front door quietly opens as Aerith turns to see Sora and Juvia walk in and she puts her finger over her lip to let them know that their kids were all asleep. They all take on a whispering tone as Juvia swoons over her own children. "Aw. How were they? They didn't give you any trouble?" Aerith's smile was unchanged. "None whatsoever. They were perfect angels."

Sora takes note of the oven being on and the mess in the kitchen. "So… did my little Raindrop finish the cake?" Juvia tilted her head. "Cake? Imber was baking?" Sora pulled an abomination of a cake out of the oven and could make out the letters: "C-A-E-L" and the number 6. "I don't think she knows that the icing and the name comes AFTER you bake it." Juvia analyzes it. "Juvia thinks she did pretty good for her first time. The house is still standing after all." Sora looks at her wide eyed as Juvia realizes he doesn't know. "Oh. That's right. Juvia never told you the story of her first time baking a cake." Aerith saw the cake and made the connection. "Cael's 6th birthday is tomorrow, is it?"

Sora and Juvia make a similar "Shush" gesture that Aerith gave them as she takes the hint. "Mum's the word. Well, good night. Don't be afraid to call me again for more babysitting when number 5 is born." Juvia nods. "Jewel. Her name is gonna be Jewel. And maybe next time you can ask us before you call Erza?" Aerith looked shock and couldn't find the words, but Juvia answered the question on her lips. "The bump on Cael's head. It's in the same place Erza always hit him." As Aerith left, she began to wonder how often Erza hit that boy...and how often that boy got on Erza's nerves.

Sora put Imber and Cael in their beds as he made his way to his own room to find Juvia was already on her side of the bed. Sora crawled into bed beside her, facing away to reach for the light. Just as it went out, Juvia turned over and started rubbing his back. It didn't take long for Sora to address it. "What are you doing? Do you STILL want that?" Juvia groans. "No. Juvia is trying to help you with your back problems. Juvia was not hoping for...playtime." Sora responds. "Oh. That's too bad. Cause I was kinda in the mood for playtime." Juvia's eyes widened with excitement for a moment, but she could tell even in the dark that Sora had a smug grin on his face. "Real- ...Oh, shut up." He laughs as she pops his back. "Haha. Ow!" Juvia gets a devious look on her face and whispers sensually in his ear. "Juvia will have to punish you for tricking her like this."

THE END

 ***That's one of my "polled stories" down. I've updated my profile with the replacement. Be sure to vote for the one you want to see.***


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